The Internet or World Wide Web is especially conducive to conducting electronic commerce. Many Web servers have been developed through which vendors can advertise and sell product. The products can include items (e.g., music) that are delivered electronically to the user over the Internet and items (e.g., books) that are delivered through conventional distribution channels (e.g., a shipping agent). A server computer system may provide an electronic version of a catalog that lists the items that are available. A user may browse through the catalog using a browser and select various items to purchase. When the user has completed selecting items to be purchased, the server computer system then prompts the user for information to complete the ordering of the items. This user-preference profile may include the user's name, the user's credit card number, a shipping address for the order as well as other information. The server computer system then typically confirms the order by sending a confirming web page to the client computer system.
In addition to security concerns, purchasing items over the Internet has forced many changes in habit for customary brick and mortar shoppers. Internet shoppers are not only no longer able to pick up, try on or otherwise interact with merchandise available for purchase, Internet shoppers are subject to significant changes in the procedures necessary to return an item purchased on-line.
The ability to simply carry a purchased item back to the retail counter from which it was purchased to request a refund does not typically exist for Internet shoppers. While some brick and mortar stores with Internet counterparts accept the return of merchandise purchased from their Internet counterparts, this is certainly the exception rather than the rule. Therefore, many Internet shoppers are faced with the logistical nightmare of having to return remotely purchased merchandise to a warehouse or returns facility operated by the Internet retailer.
There exists a myriad of issues with which an Internet customer must contend to return this remotely purchased merchandise. For example, is the item returnable, how will the refund be paid, what shipping agent should be used, how efficient is the long distance returns process, what happens if the package is lost or damaged in transit. These and many other issues are currently contributing to the limited acceptance that Internet commerce has experienced.